Don't Let the Door Hit You?

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When a valued employee walks into your office and tells you he or she has accepted another job, should you try to negotiate with them to stay? If a valued employee came to me and said she had been offered a job, I would have a conversation with her to see if this new opportunity is best for her and consider whether I could change anything here to make her decision more to my favor.

I had my production manager come to me years ago with a job offer he had received. The other company had given him a tour of its facility and promised him more money. He came to me and told me. It just so happened that I knew who the company was. As a matter of fact, I had given the owner advice at a trade show the year before. I thought it was really tacky that he would recruit out of my company. After discussing this with my manager, he decided to stay. He's still with me and very happy he decided to stay.

There have been numerous other times that people have left without giving me or one of my managers the opportunity to discuss it. We graciously accept their resignations. Do you try to negotiate when someone quits?